Long Island cider and potato fests set for this weekend

The fifth annual Pour the Core hard cider festival is coming to the Long Island Sports Park on Saturday. (Credit: Vera Chinese)

Festivals celebrating two of Long Island’s staple crops are coming to the Long Island Sports Park in Calverton this weekend.

Pour the Core, a hard cider festival featuring more than 75 cideries, returns for it fifth year on Saturday, Oct. 1. Meanwhile, the third annual Long Island Potato Festival is set for Sunday, Oct. 2. Both events are organized by Starfish Junction.

The 21-and-over cider festival runs from noon to 4:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $45 and designated driver tickets are $12 when purchased in advance. Buy your tickets here. Prices do not include tax and fees.

Locally, Woodside Orchards of Aquebogue and Furnace Spicy Hard Cider of Sag Harbor will pour their cider, while newcomer Riverhead Ciderhouse of Calverton will make its debut.

New this year will be an apple cider doughnut-eating contest.

“The apple cider donut-eating contest is fun to do and fun to watch,” event manager Krysten Dolan said in a press release announcing the event. “[It’s] another way to showcase the star of the show, the beloved apple.”

The following day is all about the spud, as the family-friendly Long Island Potato Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. Expect exhibitors, food trucks, live music, activities, seminars, an amateur potato salad competition, a mashed potato sculpting contest, a potato-peeling race and more.